Human beings occupy a dominant position on our planet, not because we have stronger muscles or sharper teeth than other species, but because we have smarter brains. Our brains developed the technologies and the complex social organization that make us powerful. For example, our smartness gave us bulldozers and knives that are stronger and sharper than any animal's muscles or teeth.If machine brains come to surpass human brains as ours surpass those of other animals, the machine brains could become as powerful relative to us as we are to the other animals. Extreme levels of machine intelligence - superintelligence - would potentially be in a position to shape the future. What happens to humanity, whether humanity would even survive, would then depend on the goals of the superintelligence. The possibility of a machine intelligence revolution is therefore an extremely important topic. Perhaps it is the most important topic.Readership : Suitable for general readers as well as academics in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Computer Science, and Philosophy.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. Other animals have stronger muscles or sharper claws, but we have cleverer brains. If machine brains one day come to surpass human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become very powerful. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on us humans than on the gorillas themselves, so the fate of our species then would come to depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence. But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed AI or otherwise to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation? To get closer to an answer to this question, we must make our way through a fascinating landscape of topics and considerations. Read the book and learn about oracles, genies, singletons; about boxing methods, tripwires, and mind crime; about humanity's cosmic endowment and differential technological development; indirect normativity, instrumental convergence, whole brain emulation and technology couplings; Malthusian economics and dystopian evolution; artificial intelligence, and biological cognitive enhancement, and collective intelligence. This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain. Yet the writing is so lucid that it somehow makes it all seem easy. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.

The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. Other animals have stronger muscles or sharper claws, but we have cleverer brains. If machine brains one day come to surpass human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become very powerful. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on us humans than on the gorillas themselves, so the fate of our species then would come to depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence. But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed AI or otherwise to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation? To get closer to an answer to this question, we must make our way through a fascinating landscape of topics and considerations. Read the book and learn about oracles, genies, singletons; about boxing methods, tripwires, and mind crime; about humanity's cosmic endowment and differential technological development; indirect normativity, instrumental convergence, whole brain emulation and technology couplings; Malthusian economics and dystopian evolution; artificial intelligence, and biological cognitive enhancement, and collective intelligence. This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain. Yet the writing is so lucid that it somehow makes it all seem easy. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.

A day does not go by without a news article reporting some amazing breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI). Many philosophers, futurists, and AI researchers have conjectured that human-level AI will be developed in the next 20 to 200 years. If these predictions are correct, it raises new and sinister issues related to our future in the age of intelligent machines. Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach directly addresses these issues and consolidates research aimed at making sure that emerging superintelligence is beneficial to humanity. While specific predictions regarding the consequences of superintelligent AI vary from potential economic hardship to the complete extinction of humankind, many researchers agree that the issue is of utmost importance and needs to be seriously addressed. Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach discusses key topics such as: AI-Completeness theory and how it can be used to see if an artificial intelligent agent has attained human level intelligence Methods for safeguarding the invention of a superintelligent system that could theoretically be worth trillions of dollars Self-improving AI systems: definition, types, and limits The science of AI safety engineering, including machine ethics and robot rights Solutions for ensuring safe and secure confinement of superintelligent systems The future of superintelligence and why long-term prospects for humanity to remain as the dominant species on Earth are not great Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach is designed to become a foundational text for the new science of AI safety engineering. AI researchers and students, computer security researchers, futurists, and philosophers should find this an invaluable resource.

Featuring numerous updates and enhancements, Science Fiction and Philosophy, 2nd Edition, presents a collection of readings that utilize concepts developed from science fiction to explore a variety of classic and contemporary philosophical issues. Uses science fiction to address a series of classic and contemporary philosophical issues, including many raised by recent scientific developments Explores questions relating to transhumanism, brain enhancement, time travel, the nature of the self, and the ethics of artificial intelligence Features numerous updates to the popular and highly acclaimed first edition, including new chapters addressing the cutting-edge topic of the technological singularity Draws on a broad range of science fiction’s more familiar novels, films, and TV series, including I, Robot, The Hunger Games, The Matrix, Star Trek, Blade Runner, and Brave New World Provides a gateway into classic philosophical puzzles and topics informed by the latest technology

Artificial Superintelligence Concerns those who believe in a fundamental (causal) theory of everything. Combining the top most categories of reality, the idea of pure intelligence, the major constructs and facts of science and mathematics, the author proposes a theory of powerfully intelligent machines superior to human minds.

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Superintelligence is a concept that describes an artificially enhanced human brain, a computer program or a device that is much smarter, more creative and wiser than any current or past existing human brain. The uniqueness of superintelligence involves a scenario where the superintelligence recursively enhances its own capability and intelligence to an unimaginable scale. Such an event has been termed a singularity by theorists. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the possible paths to superintelligence, and perhaps the most frequently discussed. Other possible paths to superintelligence would be through human genetic engineering or brain-computer interfacing.

A Huffington Post Definitive Tech Book of 2013 Artificial Intelligence helps choose what books you buy, what movies you see, and even who you date. It puts the "smart" in your smartphone and soon it will drive your car. It makes most of the trades on Wall Street, and controls vital energy, water, and transportation infrastructure. But Artificial Intelligence can also threaten our existence. In as little as a decade, AI could match and then surpass human intelligence. Corporations and government agencies are pouring billions into achieving AI's Holy Grail—human-level intelligence. Once AI has attained it, scientists argue, it will have survival drives much like our own. We may be forced to compete with a rival more cunning, more powerful, and more alien than we can imagine. Through profiles of tech visionaries, industry watchdogs, and groundbreaking AI systems, Our Final Invention explores the perils of the heedless pursuit of advanced AI. Until now, human intelligence has had no rival. Can we coexist with beings whose intelligence dwarfs our own? And will they allow us to?

A global catastrophic risk is one with the potential to wreak death and destruction on a global scale. In human history, wars and plagues have done so on more than one occasion, and misguided ideologies and totalitarian regimes have darkened an entire era or a region. Advances in technology are adding dangers of a new kind. It could happen again. In Global Catastrophic Risks 25 leading experts look at the gravest risks facing humanity in the 21st century, including asteroid impacts, gamma-ray bursts, Earth-based natural catastrophes, nuclear war, terrorism, global warming, biological weapons, totalitarianism, advanced nanotechnology, general artificial intelligence, and social collapse. The book also addresses over-arching issues - policy responses and methods for predicting and managing catastrophes. This is invaluable reading for anyone interested in the big issues of our time; for students focusing on science, society, technology, and public policy; and for academics, policy-makers, and professionals working in these acutely important fields.

Our life consists in a permanent quest for a more uplifting and rich experience. We love to travel, listen to music, talk to others, and mostly create. We all love to create something, either a family, a business or an impact on society with what we do. We desire respect, recognition and appreciation. And, this is why we love to be praised, admired and receive gifts. All these things contribute to our evolution as a human being, as a species and as a spiritual being, and that’s why they all directly affect our IQ. Although others have divided our brain in IQ, EQ, and many other Qs, they are all connected. Therefore, although we may separate our brain in parts for a more specific analysis, it would be unwise and unreasonable to try to judge someone’s IQ without taking into consideration his emotions and lifestyle, because they affect our IQ, but foremost and above anything, our decisions. The way we make decisions is affected by our IQ level, and that’s why the IQ test is so important in recruitment processes. Nevertheless, we can improve our IQ by improving the way we make decisions and this is only possible with the development of thought patterns through self-surviving activities. We already know that anyone learns fast when our life depends on it, when we need a job to pay our bills and food in the table, but few know that we learn much faster when motivated with positive stimulation, such as dreams, ambitions and desires. Few people know that we can’t change unless we desire it, but such desire can’t be faked or imagined. This is why honesty is the key to radical transformations in life. When we hear about stories regarding rags to riches and how some individuals have made it out of nowhere to achieve their dreams, we’re noticing the impact that an action fueled by desire has in one’s life. And, even though some people may seem special when compared to others, they’re not as much if we notice how unmotivated most of the rest is. Most people have learned to accept what they have as a fact, and for this reason they can’t and won’t ever change their status. Their personality is directly linked to their believe system, so they also attribute their results to the character that they’ve learned to accept. This is why being a loser is a state of mind, not a condition. We are who we choose to be, literally. We’re not what we have but what we accept. So, the IQ isn’t as valid as what we accept or believe to deserve. When children receive the results of their tests in school they learn to accept that grade as a definition of who we are. Few would dare saying: “who the hell are you to judge my intelligence?” or more simply think “I don’t deserve this!”. I was one of the few children that do this. And, as such, I was ridiculed by my classmates and teachers. In fact, even Psychologists would tell me to forget higher ambitions as I wasn't, according to them, fit for college or technical jobs. My parents, based on the same conclusions, would tell me not to work so hard because I wasn't in the same level of the others but I could also get any job, including as a waiter. Being surrounded by people that reinforced a label attributed by these governmental institutions doesn't help in changing our status, and that’s why even the most brave eventually fall behind. The pressure and lack of support is just too much for one single child or teenager to help himself. So, we grow up thinking that an IQ is a representation of how much we deserve in life. It’s not, even if we were born in a family of idiots and raised without toys, surrounded by children that didn't grow up to have a brighter future. I know this as a certainty, because I had a low IQ all my life, my parents had less than 4 years of school education, some of my friends died from drug overdose or finished in jail, nobody in my neighborhood went to college, but I spent my entire life studying the topic of intelligence, and with what I have learned and applied, was able to achieve what everyone thought to be impossible. I finished college, worked as a University Professor for over 6 years, in 5 different Universities, published over 150 books and even built a career as a famous music producer. Today, my IQ is 40% higher than 20 years ago and many believe that I’m either a genius or unreal. What I am, however, is just someone that did something that experts in Psychology don’t recognize to be possible of doing. I have increased my IQ with very simple principles and in this book I will tell you why and how you can do it too.

It started with a bang. The big bang! And after eons evolving here on Earth we find ourselves firmly ensconced within the cosmic cradle of space/time -- constrained by the one-way march of time, confined by physical limitations, and not really sure where we came from or where we are going. Before the big bang there was neither space nor time, at least not as we now know them. Anyway that is what the best scientific minds tell us; fact is, we know nothing about the realm that preceded the big bang. However, with the big bang space opened, time flowed, and the evolution of complexity commenced. Immediately following the onset of the big bang, the process of evolution began its developmental activities by combining tiny particles of matter. Atoms merged with atoms and soon were forming molecules. The zeal of the evolutionary process to reach for increased complexity continued its march until molecules formed cells and in time these inanimate cells crossed the critical threshold to become tiny living entities.

A spell-binding quest for the one algorithm capable of deriving all knowledge from data, including a cure for cancer Society is changing, one learning algorithm at a time, from search engines to online dating, personalized medicine to predicting the stock market. But learning algorithms are not just about Big Data - these algorithms take raw data and make it useful by creating more algorithms. This is something new under the sun: a technology that builds itself. In The Master Algorithm, Pedro Domingos reveals how machine learning is remaking business, politics, science and war. And he takes us on an awe-inspiring quest to find 'The Master Algorithm' - a universal learner capable of deriving all knowledge from data.

Those who thrill to a mind-bending challenge have met their match in this one-of-a-kind collection. Readers can match wits with an elite class of master problem solvers in a wide variety of math, logic, and word games. These games are inspired by members of MENSA, the organization made up of people with an I.Q. of 140 or more. Puzzle addict James Fixx invites readers to sharpen their pencils and their wits with each brain-crunching entry. Answers are provided at the back of the book, as well as information that will help readers discover if they, like Fixx, are MENSA material.

Bestselling author of The Revenge of Gaia James Lovelock—the great scientific visionary of our age—presents a radical vision of humanity’s future Now in his 95th year, James Lovelock has been hailed as “the man who conceived the first wholly new way of looking at life on earth since Charles Darwin” (Independent) and “the most profound scientific thinker of our time” (Literary Review). A Rough Ride to the Future introduces two new Lovelock­ian ideas. The first is that three hundred years ago, when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine, he was un­knowingly beginning what Lovelock calls “accelerated evolu­tion,” a process that is bringing about change on our planet roughly a million times faster than Darwinian evolution. The second is that as part of this process, humanity has the capacity to become the intelligent part of Gaia, the self-regulating earth system whose discovery Lovelock first an­nounced nearly fifty years ago. A Rough Ride to the Future is also an intellectual autobiography, in which Lovelock reflects on his life as a lone scientist, and asks—eloquently—whether his career trajec­tory is possible in an age of increased bureaucratization. We are now changing the atmosphere again, and Lovelock argues that there is little that can be done about this. But instead of feeling guilty, we should recognize what is happening, prepare for change, and ensure that we survive as a species so we can contribute to—perhaps even guide—the next evolution of Gaia. The road will be rough, but if we are smart enough, life will continue on earth in some form far into the future.

Human enhancement has risen into prominence as a topic in practical ethics and in public debates about the appropriate focus of biomedical research.This book features original contributions from many of the world's leading ethicists and moral thinkers working on these questions, representing a wide range of perspectives---from both the East and the West, from both booster and knockers and sceptics and moderates, with an emphasis on carefulanalytic work. Julian Savulescu and Nick Bostrom thus present a unique snapshot of the state of the debate. This is a must-read for anybody who wishes to have an informed opinion on these matters.